Box Score NASHVILLE, Tenn. - - Belmont (2-1) came out strong in the
first set and used that momentum en route to a 3-0 victory over
Jacksonville State (1-2) in the final match of the Belmont
Invitational at the Curb Event Center on Saturday. The win over the
Gamecocks gave the Bruins second place in the invitational behind
Memphis.
The Bruins started out strong and never wavered, defeating the
Gamecocks 25-18 in set one, 25-19 in the second set, and 25-22 in
the final set. After errors proved costly in the first match of the
day against Memphis, Belmont bounced back, decreasing the number of
errors from 40 against Memphis, including 20 service errors
compared to 10 aces, to 27 team errors against Jacksonville State.
The Bruins used seven service aces compared to only nine service
errors to power their way past the Gamecocks.
The win was only the second ever for Belmont over Jacksonville
State. JSU now leads the series 8-2. The victory was a testament to
Belmont's improvement as they knock off a team that finished first
in the Ohio Valley Conference last season and advanced to the
second round of the NCAA tournament. The way the Bruins finished
the tournament also showed improvement from the season's opening
game last night.
"That's a really good team (Jacksonville State)," Head Coach
Deane Webb said. "That's a team that beat Memphis pretty handily
last night. I think we just got better throughout the tournament.
We had a little bit of a letdown this morning, which is
unfortunate, but as long as we're learning, as long as we're
getting better, then it's good. I think we saw that today."
Providing much of the Bruin power over the weekend were seniors
Tara
Blood (Boise, Idaho) and Kayla
Albritton (Gainesville, Fla.). Blood proved a force to be
reckoned for opposing hitters along the front line, recording a
team-high 14 blocks for the weekend, including six in the
final match. It was Albritton, however, who provided most of the
punch for the Belmont offense as she registered 36 kills (3.27k/s),
a solid .354 hitting percentage, seven aces and seven blocks over
the weekend's three matches.
"Kayla (Albritton) was very, very dominant and very athletic,"
Webb said. "We got her into pretty good situations with serve
receive and then Hannah (Miranda) got her the ball in some pretty
good locations. Overall, I think she was very, very dynamic. Tara
(Blood), throughout the tournament, it was just great to see how
far she has come. She's a kid who came in as a freshman and didn't
know a lot about the game and was one of the more dominant
defenders here (in the tournament) as far as front row. I think
they were both very deserving of the all-tournament team."
Junior Maggie
Johnson also turned in another solid performance for the
Bruins. Johnson finished with 12 kills and 11 digs for the final
match. Her tournament total was 36 kills, tying Albritton for
team-high honors. Allison Miranda finished with 35 assists,
bringing her total to 95 over three games.
Belmont goes on the road for the first time Tuesday, Aug.
31st, when they travel to Cookeville, Tenn., to take on
Tennessee Tech. First serve is set for 7 p.m. Webb hopes the road
trip will give him additional opportunities to evaluate his young
team.
"I think it's great to be home and great to be in front of our
fans, but it's also good to see how we handle someone else's fans
and see what that looks like," Webb said. "We haven't seen much on
Tennessee Tech, so we don't really know a whole lot about them. I
know we've had some good matches with them in the past. For us,
this time of the year, these are non-conference matches, they
matter because they're a chance to get better. As long as we go
into each match with the understanding that we're trying to get
better and we go after the match with that intent, then we're going
to be fine."
The Tennessee Tech match is the first in a four-game road swing
for the Bruins. Belmont will travel to Reno, Nevada, at the end of
the week (Sept. 3-4) to participate in the Nevada Invitational. The
Bruins open play against Notre Dame, a team that was receiving
votes in the first AVCA Coaches' Poll. Belmont will also face Weber
State and host Nevada over the weekend. The next home action for
the Bruins is Tuesday, Sept. 7, against Chattanooga.
2010 Belmont Invitational All-Tournament
Team
Cassie Farrell (Jr., Miami(OH))
Kara Slater (Sr., Jacksonville State)
Tara Blood (Sr., Belmont)
Kayla Albritton (Sr., Belmont)
Marija Jovanovic (So., Memphis)
Christine Bach (Sr., Memphis)
Altrese Hawkins (So., Memphis)--Tournament MVP
Postmatch Quotes
